Marine cleat and rope guide



A ril 21, 1970 P. R. BROWN MARINE CLEAT AND ROPE GUIDE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 29, 1968 INVENTOR:

PAUL R. BROWN By 518; 2W,

AHys.

A ril 21, 1970 P. R. BROWN 3,507, 3

MARINE GLEAT AND ROPE GUIDE 7 Filed May 29, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet} INVENTOR By 5 6x11,

AHVS.

PAUL R. BROWN United States Patent .0

3,507,243 MARINE CLEAT AND ROPE GUIDE Paul R. Brown, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., assignor to Seal Basin Marine Company, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., a corporation of Illinois Filed May 29, 1968, Ser. No. 732,968 Int. Cl. B631) 21/04 U.S. Cl. 114-218 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An article of marine hardward which is a unitary article including a base adapted for mounting on a watercraft and a pedestal formed intergal with the base and extending upwardly therefrom. The pedestal includes a pair of spaced integral stanchions which define a rope slot. Each of the stanchions has a sloping rope guide surface on the upper portion thereof to provide a guide into the rope slot. An elongated arm is fixed to each of the stanchions and extends outwardly therefrom. The arms are aligned and positioned above the bottom of the rope slot.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Since the time that man has had a boat and has had a rope to secure to the boat, man has had the problem of providing a convenient means for fastening the rope to the boat. Many fastening devices have now become traditional on boats, although the efiiciency of the devices is not of the highest magnitude. Rope holding devices are customarily made by marine hardward manufacturers of materials which will not corrode, and the manfacturers do use new materials as the materials become available. However, the design of the rope fastening devices has remained relatievly fixed. One of the rope fastening devices which is commonly found on a boat is a bit. The bit generally consists of, a base which is ada ted for attachment to the boat, a column attached to the base, and a pair of opposed arms, each of which arms are fixed to the column. A rope is tied to the bit by looping the rope around the column and the arms to secure the rope to the bit. One of the problems with the traditional bit construction is that the rope must be tied and untied to and from the bit and there is no means for ready connect and disconnect to the bit, especially when the tying is to be for a relatively short period. Furthermore, the bit is a single purpose piece of hardware so that other pieces of hardware are required to provide efiicient operation of the boat.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an article of marine hardware, and specifically, an improved construction of a chock-bit. The present device includes a base which is adapted for attachment to a watercraft, a pedestal formed integral with the base and a pair of stanchions formed integral with the pedestal to define a rope slot between the stanchions. The free ends of the stanchions have sloping surfaces which provide a rope guide. A recess is formed in a portion of the stanchions and the pedestal to provide a rope holding recess. A pair of aligned elongated arms is fixed to the stanchions and extends outwardly therefrom.

It is a principal obiect of the present invention to provide an improved article of marine hardware wherein a chock-bit may be used for a quick connect and disconnect for a rope.

It is another object of this invention to provide an article of marine hardware which may be used as a conventional bit or it may 'be used as a rope guide.

3,507,243 Patented Apr. 21, 1970 ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an article of marine hardware embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the article of marine hardware shown in FIGURE 1, but showing the opposite side of the article;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing the article shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 mounted on a bow deck of a watercraft showing two lines attached to the article;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view showing the article shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 mounted at the peak of a Watercraft;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view showing the article shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 mounted at the peak of a watercraft and showing another usage of the article;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view showing the article of FIGURES 1 and 2 mounted at the stern of a watercraft; and

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional elevational view of the article of FIGURES 1 and 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings, and especially to FIG- URES 1 and 2, an article of marine hardware, a chockbit, generally indicated by numeral 10, is shown therein. The chock-bit 10 generally includes a base 12, a pedestal 14 formed integral with the base and a pair of stanchions 16 and 18 formed integral with the base. A pair of arms 20 and 22 is fixed to the stanchions 16 and 18, respectively.

The base 12 has a generally fiat mounting surface 24 which is adapted for positioning on a portion of a watercraft. The base 10 includes a plurality of screw holes 26 which are adapted for receiving screws or bolts to fix the base to the watercraft. Formed integral with the base 12 is the pedestal 14 which has a generally square cross section.

The pedestal 14 has the stanchions 16 and 18 formed integral therewith. The stanchions have a rope slot 28 therebetween, which rope slot 28 ends in a generally U-shaped slot bottom 30. Stanchion 16 has a sloping upper surface 32 and stanchion 18 has a like sloping upper surface 34. The surfaces 32 and 34 define rope guide surfaces generally forming a V-shaped rope guide which opens into the rope slot 28. As may be best seen in FIG- URE 7, stanchions 16 and 1-8 have arm apertures 36 and 38, respectively, formed therein, and arms 20 and 22 are fixedly mounted in the apertures 36 and 38, respectively. In this instance, the arms 20 and 22 are elongated cylindrical rods and the center lines of the arms 20 and 22 are aligned so that the arms extend outwardly from the respective stanchions. It may be seen that the center line of the arms is positioned between the rope slot bottom 30 and the tops of the stanchions.

As may be best seen in FIGURE 2, chock-bit 10 has a recess 40, which recess is a portion of a sphere and is formed in the pedestal 14 and in stanchions 16 and 18. The sphere of which recess 40 is a portion has its center substantially aligned with the plane of the rope slot bottom 30.

The chock-bit 10 may be mounted on a watercraft in any convenient location. Refering now to FIGURE 4, it may be seen that the chock-bit is mounted at a peak 42 of a watercraft. In. this instance, a line 46 is shown positioned in the rope slot 28. The line 46 has a knot in the rope so that the knot fits in the recess 40. It may be appreciated that for a quick connection of the line to the chock-bit, the line is simply dropped into the slot 28 and the knot falls into the recess 40. The knot is held in the recess since the knot cannot work upward along the slot 28 because the portions of the stanchions 16 and 18 engage the upper portion of the knot. It may be further appreciated that the rope guide surfaces 32 and 34 provide a guide for readily dropping the line 46 into the rope slot 28. Removal of the line is simple since it is necessary only to pull the knot out of the recess 40 and lift the rope along the rope slot out of engagement with the chock-bit.

Looking now to FIGURE 3, it may be seen that the chock-bit 10 is shown mounted on a bow deck 48 of a watercraft 50. A pair of lines 52 and 54 is shown secured to the chock-bit in that the lines are positioned in the rope slot 28 and the lines are tied to the article in a conventional manner. The other ends of the lines are secured to a Wharf 56.

As may be seen in FIGURE 5, the chock-bit is shown mounted on a peak 58 of a watercraft 60. Three lines 62,

64 and 66 are shown secured to a wharf 68 and are connected to the chock-bit 10. The instant aplication shows how a plurality of lines may be connected to the chockbit.

FIGURE 6 shows the chock-bit mounted on a stern 70 of a watercraft 72. It is evident that a line may be secured to the chock-bit or the chock-bit may be used as a guide for a rope.

From the foregoing description of the subject device, it may be seen that the device may be used in a plurality of fashions on a watercraft. The subject device may be used for a traditional connection to a rope by tying the rope to the arms, or the rope used in an additional manner by positioning a rope with a knot in the slot with the knot positioned in the recess. Furthermore, the instant device may also be used as a rope guide. Therefore, the present device provides an article of marine hardware which has a plurality of uses.

Although a specific embodiment of the herein-disclose invention has been shown and described in detail above, it is to be expressly understood that the preferred embodiment of the instant invention shown and described herein is solely for purposes of illustration and the instant invention is limited only by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An article of marine hardware comprising, a base, a pedestal formed integral with said base, said pedestal having a pair of spaced integral stanchions forming a rope slot therebetween, said rope slot having a curved bottom, said pedestal and stanchions having a concave recess on one side thereof opening into the rope slot to provide a holding means, said recess having a width substantially greater than the width of the rope slot and being positioned adjacent to the bottom of the rope slot below the top of the stanchions and said recess being substantially coaxial with the center of the curved bottom of the rope slot, and an arm fixed in each of the stanchions and extending outwardly therefrom to provide an additional holding means, whereby a rope having a knot therein is held securely against a tensile force by said article of marine manufacture when a portion of the rope is positioned in the rope slot and the knot is positioned in the recess so that the knot engages the article and the tensile force holds the knot in position in the recess and the recess prevents upward movement of the knot.

2. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 1, including a rope guide surface on the upper portion of each stanchion to form a generally V-shaped guide into the rope slot.

3. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 1, wherein the recess defines generally a portion of a sphere, which sphere has its center on substantially the same plane as the bottom of the rope slot.

4. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 1, wherein the arms are positioned above the bottom of the rope slot.

5. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 1, wherein each of the arms is an elongated rod and the center line of each arm is aligned with the center line of the other arm.

6. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 5, wherein the bottom of the rope slot extends below the center line of each of the arms.

7. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 1, including a rope guide surface on the upper portion of each stanchion to form a generally V-shaped guide into the rope slot, and the recess defines generally a portion of a sphere, which sphere has its center on substantially the same plane as the bottom of the rope slot.

8. An article of marine hardware as defined in claim 1, including a rope guide surface on the upper portion of each stanchion to form a generally V-shaped guide into the rope slot, each of the arms is an elongated rod having its center line aligned with the center line of the other arm, said rope slot has its bottom positioned below the center lines of the arms, and the recess defines generally a portion of a sphere, which sphere has its center on substantially the same plane as the bottom of the rope slot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 316,997 5/1885 Murch 1142l8 1,770,967 7/1930 Bean 1l4218 3,265,032 8/1966 Hume 1l4.218 3,398,714 8/1968 Wallin et a1. 114218 3,216,031 11/1965 Ingold 93 10 MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner J. E. PITTENGER, Assistant Examiner 

